Estes Park News

Rocky Mountain National Park

Rocky Mountain National Park prepares for fire season

A test of fitness in a dry land

By Walt Hester

Trail-Gazette

Posted:
04/25/2013 01:28:43 PM MDT

Rangers and firefighters from Rocky Mountain National Park trudge along the Lake Estes Trail on Wednesday. The group was performing the arduous pack test, a 45-minute hike with 45 pounds over three miles. (Walt Hester / Estes Park Trail-Gazette)

Pack-laden park employees trundle over a bridge on the Lake Estes Trail on Wednesday. The arduous pack test is required for park employees to obtain a wildland "Red Card", certification to fight wildland fires in and around the national park. (Walt Hester / Estes Park Trail Gazette)

Boots tromp and clump along the paved Lake Estes Trail. Prospective wildland firefighters joke and talk, and just start to breath a bit heavier. This is the start of the "Arduous Pack Test."

People wishing to qualify to fight wildland fires, a very common occurrence in the arid West, are required to demonstrate that they can handle the rigors of the job. The National Park Service, Forest Service, state and local authorities follow guidelines set by the National Wildfire Coordination Group for minimum physical fitness requirements to obtain the Incident Qualification Card, or more commonly, Red Card.

Rocky Mountain National Park's Jeff Singer keeps track of the Work Capacity Test times at Lake Estes on Wednesday. The tests are necessary to make sure park employees have the physical ability to fight wildland fires, a big concern in the arid West. (Walt Hester / Estes Park Trail-Gazette)

Jeff Singer of Rocky Mountain National Park stands by the fence between the Lake Estes 9-Hole Public Course and the Lake Estes Trail a short way east of the visitor center. He holds a folder and papers with the names of each person carrying out the test on Wednesday, keeping track of times and tests of the dozen or so people on the path. Singer explains that while most of the guys out on the trail today are engaged in the arduous pack test, their are two more tests, as well.

"The field test is 25 pounds, two miles in 30 minutes. The walk test is no pounds, one mile in 16 minutes," Singer says.

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The most familiar, the arduous pack test, is 45 pounds over three miles in 45 minutes. On this day, the testees start at the visitor center just east of downtown Estes Park and head east to the Lake Estes Marina, then back for their three total miles. How each individual determines the weight is up to him or her, as long as it ads up to at least 45 pounds.

"I have a 20 pound barbell wrapped in a jacket with five or six boxes of "D" batteries. Each box is a box of eight," one firefighter explains. "I think it actually comes to 45.1 pounds or something, but if I took one battery out it would have been too little."

Officials administering the test often point out that the test is not a race. No one gets extra points for a faster time.

"44 minutes and 59 seconds is good enough," says a testee.

The tests are designed to determine work capacity. The test measures, according to the park service's Fire and Aviation Management Wildland Fire page, aerobic capacity, muscular strength and muscular endurance. These are all important factors as each person may be called on to carry heavy tools, a sleeping bag, marking tape, a radio, food, water and an emergency fire shelter.

"It's important that we keep these guys current because of the wildland fire potential danger here," Singer adds.

Spring snows have brought the snow pack up to almost 90 percent of the average. Some climatologists are even adjusting drought forecast. In this part of the West, however, one week of warm temperatures and wind can bring fires. The firefighters of the national park will be prepared.

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